The bill proposes a six-year prison term for anyone found guilty of “removing sexual organs in whole or in part”.
Salmann Tamimi, president of the Muslim Association of Iceland, described the proposal as an “attack on religion”.
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Circumcising girls has been illegal in Iceland since 2005, but there are currently no laws to regulate the practice against boys.
Describing circumcision as a “violation” of young boys’ rights, the bill states the only time it should be considered is for “health reasons”.
Young men would be given the opportunity to decide for themselves once they reached the age of consent.
Male circumcision is one of the most common surgical procedures in the world, with one recent study estimating that around 38 per cent of men globally have undergone the procedure.
According to the same study, around half of circumcisions are carried out for religious or cultural reasons.
While the importance of male circumcision in Islam is disputed – some Muslim groups say it is obligatory, others only recommend it – it remains a major and celebrated rite wherever Islam is practised.
For Jews, circumcision carries profound religious significance and most baby boys born into Jewish families are circumcised within a week of birth.
The Bishop of Iceland, Agnes M Sigurðardóttir, has criticised the bill for criminalising the religious beliefs of Jews and Muslims, recommending instead a ban on unsafe circumcision.
In a statement to The Independent, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said he was “extremely concerned” about the proposed legislation.
“Whilst the Jewish population in Iceland is small, we cannot ignore the dangerous precedent this sets within Europe and the implications it has on Jews’ ability to carry out our religion in an open and free manner.”
A spokesperson for Milah UK, which campaigns to protect the right of the Jewish community to carry out male circumcision, described the practice as "a non-negotiable element of Jewish identity". A ban would make "sustainable Jewish life in the country impossible," he said.
There are no official figures on the number of Jews living in Iceland but estimates in 2010 by the Pew Research Center suggest they make up less than 0.1 per cent of the population (fewer than 320 people).
Mr Tamimi said he was particularly concerned about the potential impact of the bill on the small Jewish community.
“Even if there is just one Jew, it is very bad to criminalise him,” he said. “It’s very bad for Iceland to get that name, that they don’t want Jews. This is one way of saying they are not welcome.”
He warned the legislation was an attack on religion more broadly – "they are interfering in religious freedom” – and said he was frustrated that religious groups were not consulted before the legislation was proposed. “There was not a single word,” he said. “We read about it in the newspaper.”
Progressive Party MP Silja Dögg Gunnarsdóttir is the driving force behind the legislation.
“I didn’t think it was necessary to consult,” she told The Independent. “I don’t see it as a religious matter.”
“Jews are welcome in Iceland. But this is about child protection and children’s rights. That comes first, and before the religious rights of the adult.
“Every individual, it doesn’t matter what sex or how old… should be able to give informed consent for a procedure that is unnecessary, irreversible and can be harmful. His body, his choice.”
World news in pictures
Show all 51
World news in pictures
1/51
REUTERS
2/51 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
3/51 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
4/51 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
5/51 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia's Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
6/51 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
7/51 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
8/51 29 December 2018
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. - Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
9/51 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
10/51 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a 'comprehensive investigation' into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
11/51 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
12/51 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the 'Copa Nadal' (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona's Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona's old harbour
AFP/Getty
13/51 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
14/51 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
15/51 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The "Yellow Vests" (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President's policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
16/51 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
17/51 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
18/51 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
19/51 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
20/51 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
21/51 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with 'I (heart) Obamacare' written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional -- a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
22/51 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
23/51 13 December 2018
Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
24/51 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India's parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
25/51 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
26/51 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
27/51 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors' fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
28/51 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing "yellow vests" (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. - Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh "yellow vest" protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
29/51 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
30/51 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
31/51 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
32/51 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
33/51 3 December 2018
Sully, the service dog of former US President George HW Bush in his final months, lays in front of Bush's casket at the George H Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston, Texas
Courtesy Office of George HW Bush/Reuters
34/51 2 December 2018
Demonstrators march in Brussels to 'claim the climate' as world leaders meet in Poland to discuss the Paris climate agreement targets
AP
35/51 1 December 2018
A protester moves to lob a tear gas canister during a protest in Paris today against rising fuel prices
Reuters
36/51 30 November 2018
US President Donald Trump, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wave hands in front of other leaders during a family photo at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Reuters
37/51 29 November 2018
Firefighters battle a blaze on Fingerfield road at the Deepwater National Park area of Queensland. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in northeastern Australia as bushfires raged across the state amid a scorching heatwave
AFP/Getty
38/51 28 November 2018
A child waits to receive free bread by a local charity bakery amid a severe shortage of food in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, nearly 22 million people of Yemen's 26-million population are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of increased food insecurity. The impoverished Arab country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to an ongoing brutal conflict that has lasted more than three years that has driven millions to the brink of famine
EPA
39/51 27 November 2018
A petrol bomb was thrown towards the Ajax fans during their Champions League away match against AEK Athens in the Greek capital. Home supporters threw flares into the stands also
Reuters
40/51 26 November 2018
Ukrainian activists burn flares during their rally in front of the Russian Consulate in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, on 25 November, announced the decision to introduce martial law in Ukraine for a period of 60 days. Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels amid their leaving the Kerch Strait. The two small-sized 'Berdiansk' and 'Nikopol' armored artillery boats had come under enemy fire and are now dead in the water. The 'Yany Kapu' tugboat was forcibly stopped and captured by special forces of the Russian Federation
EPA
41/51 25 November 2018
Women's rights activists gather to march through Taksim Square to protest against gender violence in Istanbul on the International Day for the elimination of violence against women
AFP/Getty
42/51 24 November 2018
River Plate's fans clash with riot police after the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final match against rivals Boc Juniors was postponed
Reuters
43/51 23 November 2018
Elias Lopez, a three-year-old Honduran migrant, plays in between the shields of a line of Mexican riot police, when the group he was part of tried to cross the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. Elias Lopez is part of a group of Central American migrants that marched peacefully to the border crossing to demand better conditions and push to enter the US
AP
44/51 22 November 2018
Lebanese army soldiers march during a parade to mark the 75th anniversary of Lebanon's Independence Day, in Beirut, commemorating the liberation from the French Mandate on 22 November 1943
EPA
45/51 21 November 2018
Indian Muslim devotees wave flags as they parade atop vehicles along a street during Eid-Milad-Un-Nabi celebrations in Varanasi in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
AFP/Getty
46/51 20 November 2018
At least 50 people were killed and dozens more injured when a suicide bomber targeted a group of Muslim religious scholars in Kabul, officials in Afghanistan say.
Hundreds of clerics had gathered to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed at a large wedding hall in the capital before the blast happened, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.
Wahi Majroh, of Afghanistan’s public health ministry, said a further 83 people had been wounded by the bomber.
“The victims of the attack unfortunately are all religious scholars who gathered to commemorate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad,” said Basir Mujahid, spokesman for the Kabul police chief
Reuters
47/51 19 November 2018
A view of the Fuego volcano eruption at sunrise, seen from El Rodeo, Escuintla, Guatemala. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from several villages due to the strong eruption, located 50 kilometers west of the Guatemalan capital
EPA
48/51 18 November 2018
French President Emmanuel Macron is applauded after speaking before the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) as the German parliament commemorates victims of wars and dictatorships in Berlin. The leaders of France and Germany jointly remember the victims of European wars, presenting also a united front in countering global turmoil stoked by US President Donald Trump
AFP/Getty
49/51 17 November 2018
People wearing yellow vests, a symbol of a French drivers' nationwide protest against higher fuel prices, block the Paris-Brussels motorway in Haulchin, France
Reuters
50/51 16 November 2018
People hold banners of Jamal Khashoggi during a symbolic funeral prayer for the Saudi journalist, killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October, at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul. Turkey has more evidence contradicting the Saudi version of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi including a second audio recording, revealing that the murder had been premeditated, a Turkish newspaper reported on November 16, a contradiction to the statement of the Saudi prosecutor who said that five Saudi officials faced the death penalty on charges of killing Khashoggi but exonerated the country's powerful Crown Prince of involvement in the murder
AFP/Getty
51/51 15 November 2018
Alexei Navalny leaves the European Court of Human Rights today. The court has ruled that Russia's repeated arrests of Navalny were politically motivated
AP
1/51
REUTERS
2/51 4 January 2019
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a commercial market in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Reuters
3/51 3 January 2019
AFP/Getty
4/51 2 January 2019
Two men walk past a damaged cargo train after an accident in Nyborg, Denmark. Several people were killed in the crash on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, police said
AFP/Getty
5/51 1 January 2019
Emergency officers transporting a baby survivor after a gas explosion rocked a residential building in Russia's Urals city of Magnitogorsk. Russian rescuers have been forced to temporarily halt the search for dozens of missing people in the rubble of a collapsed high-rise apartment block as the building risked crumbling further, officials said, with the incident claiming at least seven lives. Part of the 10-storey building collapsed following a gas explosion on the morning of December 31, in the industrial city of Magnitogorsk, east of Moscow in the Ural mountains
Russian Emergency Situations Ministry/AFP/Getty
6/51 31 December 2018
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney
AP
7/51 30 December 2018
Bangladeshi army personnel drive a military vehicle through a street adorned with election posters near a polling station in Dhaka. Bangladesh headed to the polls following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.
AFP/Getty
8/51 29 December 2018
Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli speaks to journalists as he arrives at the hospital where Vietnamese victims of an attack on a tourist bus where taken, in Al-Haram district in the Egyptian capital Cairo's western twin city of Giza. - Three Vietnamese holidaymakers and an Egyptian tour guide were killed on December 28 when a roadside bomb blast hit their bus as it travelled close to the Giza pyramids outside Cairo, officials said.
AFP/Getty
9/51 28 December 2018
Bright blue light is seen after a transformer explosion at an electric power station in the New York City borough of Queens
Reuters
10/51 27 December 2018
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a 'comprehensive investigation' into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
11/51 26 December 2018
A young man dressed in a Father Christmas suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul
AFP/Getty
12/51 25 December 2018
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the 'Copa Nadal' (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona's Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona's old harbour
AFP/Getty
13/51 24 December 2018
US President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone as he answers calls from people calling into the NORAD Santa tracker phone line in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington
AFP/Getty
14/51 23 December 2018
An aerial photo shows damaged buildings in Carita after the area was hit by a tsunami on December 22 following an eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano. The volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia's Sunda Strait. Officials voiced fears that the toll was set to rise
AFP/Getty
15/51 22 December 2018
Protesters wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) stand next to a burning barricade as they demonstrate against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes at the A9 highway toll of Le Boulou, southern France. The "Yellow Vests" (Gilets Jaunes) movement in France originally started as a protest about planned fuel hikes but has morphed into a mass protest against President's policies and top-down style of governing
AFP/Getty
16/51 21 December 2018
A Palestinian man wearing a Santa Claus outfit hands a flower to man in a wheelchair during a demonstration near the border between Israel and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
AFP/Getty
17/51 20 December 2018
Moroccan authorities investigate the scene of the grisly murder of two Scandinavian women at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The suspects in the killings have pledged alleigance to ISIS
AP
18/51 19 December 2018
Supporters of Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Martin Fayulu gesture number four (the candidate number on the electoral list) as they protest in Kinshasa after campaigning was called off by the authorities on security grounds
Getty
19/51 17 December 2018
Pyongyang residents prepare to lay flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during National Memorial Day on Mansu Hill. North Korea is marking the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim Jong II
AFP/Getty
20/51 16 December 2018
Firefighters work on site where a large explosion occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo. According to local media reports, an explosion that triggered a fire occurred at a restaurant in Sapporo in the evening of 16 December. At least 20 people have been reported injured and taken to hospitals.
EPA
21/51 15 December 2018
A supporter wears a cast on her broken wrist with 'I (heart) Obamacare' written on it . A federal judge in Texas ruled that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional -- a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and a governor opposed to the federal government health plan, known officially as the Affordable Care Act
EPA
22/51 14 December 2018
A Palestinian carries a flaming tyre amid clashes with Israeli forces. Israel carried out raids in the West Bank today in search of a Palestinian who shot dead two soldiers yesterday
AFP/Getty
23/51 13 December 2018
Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (L) and the head rebel negotiator Mohammed Abdelsalam shake hands during peace talks in Sweden that are being overseen by the UN
AFP
24/51 12 December 2018
Baby monkeys play on a wall of India's parliament in New Delhi. Macaque monkeys have swarmed the parliament, destroying important documents, attacking government officials and generally menacing the state
Reuters
25/51 11 December 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May at the chancellery in Berlin. May postponed the Brexit deal Meaningful Vote, on 11 December due to risk of rejection from Members of Parliament. She is currently on a whistle stop tour of Europe calling on the leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and EU in Brussels looking for new guide lines for her Northern Ireland backstop
EPA
26/51 10 December 2018
Police investigate after an empty school bus crashed in the North Point district of Hong Kong. Two people were killed when a school bus mounted a pavement in a crowded Hong Kong neighbourhood, trapping passers-by underneath and injuring 13, police said
AFP/Getty
27/51 9 December 2018
A Boca Juniors' fan cheers at a viewing in Buenos Aires for the Copa Libertadores final against rivals River Plate. The match is being held in Madrid, a neutral ground, after it was twice delayed due to violence
AP
28/51 8 December 2018
Protestors wearing "yellow vests" (gilets jaunes) clash with riot police near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris during a protest against rising costs of living they blame on high taxes. - Paris was on high alert with major security measures in place ahead of fresh "yellow vest" protests which authorities fear could turn violent for a second weekend in a row.
AFP/Getty
29/51 7 December 2018
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reacts after being elected to leader of the Christian Democratic Union, succeeding the 18 year reign of Angela Merkel
Getty
30/51 6 December 2018
Police use tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Athens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager which sparked major riots in Greece in 2008
AFP/Getty
31/51 5 December 2018
The flag-draped casket of former US President George HW Bush is carried by military pallbearers past US President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter as it arrives at his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral
Reuters
32/51 4 December 2018
High school students burn a barricade in front of their high school during a demonstration against French government Education reforms
AFP/Getty
33/51 3 December 2018
Sully, the service dog of former US President George HW Bush in his final months, lays in front of Bush's casket at the George H Lewis & Sons funeral home in Houston, Texas
Courtesy Office of George HW Bush/Reuters
34/51 2 December 2018
Demonstrators march in Brussels to 'claim the climate' as world leaders meet in Poland to discuss the Paris climate agreement targets
AP
35/51 1 December 2018
A protester moves to lob a tear gas canister during a protest in Paris today against rising fuel prices
Reuters
36/51 30 November 2018
US President Donald Trump, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wave hands in front of other leaders during a family photo at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Reuters
37/51 29 November 2018
Firefighters battle a blaze on Fingerfield road at the Deepwater National Park area of Queensland. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in northeastern Australia as bushfires raged across the state amid a scorching heatwave
AFP/Getty
38/51 28 November 2018
A child waits to receive free bread by a local charity bakery amid a severe shortage of food in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, nearly 22 million people of Yemen's 26-million population are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of increased food insecurity. The impoverished Arab country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to an ongoing brutal conflict that has lasted more than three years that has driven millions to the brink of famine
EPA
39/51 27 November 2018
A petrol bomb was thrown towards the Ajax fans during their Champions League away match against AEK Athens in the Greek capital. Home supporters threw flares into the stands also
Reuters
40/51 26 November 2018
Ukrainian activists burn flares during their rally in front of the Russian Consulate in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, on 25 November, announced the decision to introduce martial law in Ukraine for a period of 60 days. Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels amid their leaving the Kerch Strait. The two small-sized 'Berdiansk' and 'Nikopol' armored artillery boats had come under enemy fire and are now dead in the water. The 'Yany Kapu' tugboat was forcibly stopped and captured by special forces of the Russian Federation
EPA
41/51 25 November 2018
Women's rights activists gather to march through Taksim Square to protest against gender violence in Istanbul on the International Day for the elimination of violence against women
AFP/Getty
42/51 24 November 2018
River Plate's fans clash with riot police after the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final match against rivals Boc Juniors was postponed
Reuters
43/51 23 November 2018
Elias Lopez, a three-year-old Honduran migrant, plays in between the shields of a line of Mexican riot police, when the group he was part of tried to cross the Chaparral border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. Elias Lopez is part of a group of Central American migrants that marched peacefully to the border crossing to demand better conditions and push to enter the US
AP
44/51 22 November 2018
Lebanese army soldiers march during a parade to mark the 75th anniversary of Lebanon's Independence Day, in Beirut, commemorating the liberation from the French Mandate on 22 November 1943
EPA
45/51 21 November 2018
Indian Muslim devotees wave flags as they parade atop vehicles along a street during Eid-Milad-Un-Nabi celebrations in Varanasi in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
AFP/Getty
46/51 20 November 2018
At least 50 people were killed and dozens more injured when a suicide bomber targeted a group of Muslim religious scholars in Kabul, officials in Afghanistan say.
Hundreds of clerics had gathered to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed at a large wedding hall in the capital before the blast happened, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.
Wahi Majroh, of Afghanistan’s public health ministry, said a further 83 people had been wounded by the bomber.
“The victims of the attack unfortunately are all religious scholars who gathered to commemorate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad,” said Basir Mujahid, spokesman for the Kabul police chief
Reuters
47/51 19 November 2018
A view of the Fuego volcano eruption at sunrise, seen from El Rodeo, Escuintla, Guatemala. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from several villages due to the strong eruption, located 50 kilometers west of the Guatemalan capital
EPA
48/51 18 November 2018
French President Emmanuel Macron is applauded after speaking before the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) as the German parliament commemorates victims of wars and dictatorships in Berlin. The leaders of France and Germany jointly remember the victims of European wars, presenting also a united front in countering global turmoil stoked by US President Donald Trump
AFP/Getty
49/51 17 November 2018
People wearing yellow vests, a symbol of a French drivers' nationwide protest against higher fuel prices, block the Paris-Brussels motorway in Haulchin, France
Reuters
50/51 16 November 2018
People hold banners of Jamal Khashoggi during a symbolic funeral prayer for the Saudi journalist, killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October, at the courtyard of Fatih mosque in Istanbul. Turkey has more evidence contradicting the Saudi version of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi including a second audio recording, revealing that the murder had been premeditated, a Turkish newspaper reported on November 16, a contradiction to the statement of the Saudi prosecutor who said that five Saudi officials faced the death penalty on charges of killing Khashoggi but exonerated the country's powerful Crown Prince of involvement in the murder
AFP/Getty
51/51 15 November 2018
Alexei Navalny leaves the European Court of Human Rights today. The court has ruled that Russia's repeated arrests of Navalny were politically motivated
AP
She said she was surprised when she learned that male circumcision was still legal, despite the ban on circumcising girls.
“The body parts are different, the procedures are different, but in both cases they can be lethal and harmful to the child,” she said.
Guidance issued in 2013 by the Nordic Ombudsmen for Children and paediatric experts concluded that “there are no health-related grounds to circumcise young boys in the Nordic countries”.
According to the paper, the procedure “violates fundamental medical-ethical principles, not least because the procedure is irreversible, painful and may cause serious complications".
In the wake of that report, doctors working for Iceland’s national health system stopped carrying out the procedure.
Ms Gunnarsdóttir argued that if just one person has complications after circumcision, “that is one too many”.
But there is significant disagreement in the global medical community regarding the potential harms or benefits of male circumcision.
Mr Tamimi is keen to support any legislation that would make male circumcision safer. But he rejects a complete ban.
This bill “is built just on feelings without any thinking about what it means to criminalise circumcision”, he said. “We don’t accept it.”
The legislation has been debated once in the Icelandic parliament and will go through several stages of discussion and consultation before it could become law.
“This is a complicated and difficult matter,” said Ms Gunnarsdóttir. “This is a healthy, democratic way to come to a conclusion.”
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